Tuesday, December 4, 2007

No fancy headings and no flowery intros. Our account is offering ATPs to its agents. If you’re one of us, ATP is a better word for laying off people. For the past few weeks, no, past few months, our account has been faced with a big time crisis: we are no longer gaining revenues, at least, enough for the account to sustain itself and its agents. Lots of options were tried by the management: rigodon for its supervisors, promotion for some people, offered agents to for this and that new LOB, new LOBs to amp up our sales, even commending people for small accomplishments, and more recently, VTOs for everyone. But obviously, it didn’t work. This morning, I was an hour and 37 minutes late, no surprise there. But what welcomed me is an e-mail stating that our program director will meet us at a certain time with a “shocking” news for everyone. A friend told me that there’s another rigodon of supervisors and Erik will be transferring to another and Ru will be back again at Offline’s helm. I thought the surprised ended there. Far from it. The “earth-shattering” news was that ATP is now an option for all of us agents. Since the account is no longer getting the income it needs to maintain its operations, and more importantly, to pay its agents, they will have to let go of some people. Take note: this is not dissolution. Our account will be operational and running but they will have to let go of some people. Some, not everyone. ATP basically states that we have the option to transfer to another account within the company. The sucky thing about it is, it will probably be voice-related. I know that we all applied for this job because we don’t want to talk to whining foreigners about their problems. But as it is the only available option for people who wants to stay in the company, well, the alternative is rather depressing.

I know that we all have mixed emotions about this. Some are happy, most are emotional on the matter. But it is not the end as the news may seem to be. For sure, we will be losing some individuals, but you never know what might happen in the coming days. Human Resources will meet us on Thursday to discuss to us the matters about ATP and other concerns that we have.

Team, the whole thing shouldn’t have come as a surprise for us. I’m sure somewhere deep inside, we already knew that this was the direction we were heading. Yet, somehow, after learning of what was to become of Offline, one can’t help but feel sad. We’re not just losing our job, security, and earnings; we’re also losing some of the best people we consider friends. I’ll save the drama after Thursday. Let’s not forget, we’ll still be receiving our 13th month and I hope that we all participate in the Year-End Party as this may be our last one. Hehehe. Anyway, for days to come, please stop singing “Farewell” and “If We Hold On.” Tsk!